I’ve made other dishes with flatbread, too. I’ve made sourdough besan and wheat pasta…

…which turned out fabulous.

This pasta has been one of my favorite pasta dishes to date. The pasta was simple, but indulgence-worthy and truly delicious. I simply mixed sourdough starter, besan, wheat and water together to form a dough. Refrigerate according to my Ultimate Wheat Recipe, roll and slice into pasta noodles.

Cook and devour.

I’ve also made 100% besan pasta with a recipe from Back to Her Roots. My favorite characteristic about this pasta was the texture. It had a nice bite to it. The dough was a little sticky, so next time I make it I’ll add more besan.

And of course Rob and I have made other concoctions with chickpea flour that we don’t have recipes for. I made sweet banana-oat-chickpea energy bars for an outing. Rob made a sourdough-corn-besan dumpling. I made pinto bean-beetroot and besan bean burgers, too.

Besan is an excellent ingredient to keep in your kitchen. It might be impossible to find in a grocery store. But making the trip to an Indian store just to get besan will be worthwhile.

Once you start using it, you’ll come to understand why I’m head over heels for besan flour.

Besan is a magical ingredient.

Chickpea flour is healthy, versatile and gluten free.

Besan is healthy

Chickpea flour is incredibly healthy because it’s made from legumes instead of grains.

I’ve experimented using chickpea flour with cakes. It retains moisture better than other flours do. This makes for a richer cake with fewer ingredients.

In the past I used puréed beans to substitute oil in recipes. But instead of using that, you can replace the wheat flour and oil in the recipe with chickpea flour instead.

Chickpea flour is also versatile because it has a great taste on its own. For example, burmese tofu only needs two ingredients: water and besan. Yet the flavor is much more appealing than tofu made with soy.

When combined with whole wheat flour, it makes an incredibly light-tasting pasta. It’s comparable to tasting refined, wheat flour pasta. Except this pasta is way healthier.

So reason number two for loving besan: versatile. It can take on different tastes and textures depending upon how you prepare and use it.

It’s also gluten free

Though I’m not afraid of gluten, there are some people who choose not to consume it.

Some have celiac disease. Others have “gluten sensitivity” or just avoid it because it’s trendy.

Whatever your reason is for going gluten free, you should consider switching to chickpea flour.

Versatility and health should be enough reasons to switch from other gluten free flours to chickpea flour. Most gluten-free flours aren’t wholesome. Rice flour, one of the most common GF flours, is made out of white rice.

Not particularly wholesome or nutritious. And breads made with corn flour tend to be refined.

Two red marks on the record for gluten-free breads.

And because besan isn’t a grain, it’s extremely unlikely that chickpea flour will be contaminated with gluten.

Some naturally gluten free grains become contaminated with gluten because they’re processed with other grains. But that shouldn’t be a problem with chickpea flour. Chickpea flour is processed differently than other grains. It shouldn’t come into contact with a gluten grain during its processing.

Recipe

Don’t settle for unhealthy gluten free flatbread anymore. Make Gluten Free Flatbread with Parsley for a flavorful and healthy homemade flatbread. Use it for side dishes, sandwiches and even pizza! So simple you’d be silly not to try it.